


How Tart

by davy_jones



Category: One Piece
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 04:11:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5694259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/davy_jones/pseuds/davy_jones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something in him clenched on instinct. Protection. Possession. Cora-san. It wasn't her business and thus, that suppressed childish instinct of his lashed out.</p><p>"It's more than that," he bit out with a note of gruffness in his voice, not appearing as apologetic as he was. Any thoughts regarding Corazon himself - his benefactor, his everything - was focused and emotional. He had severe clarity when it came to that man. It was tinted with red perhaps, but persistent just the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Tart

Tangerines were tart.  
This one bloomed with elegant vanes of a pinwheel marring lightly freckled skin.  
It wasn't sweet but cunning, like her.

***

"Why the pinwheel and tangerine?"

The query was voiced from a dry whispered mouth, as though unsure whether the words that slipped past the hesitant cavern should have reached mindful ears. Law was a watchful and mindful individual at best, save for his belligerence when it came to being told to do anything. Other flaws were of course accounted for from other observant ones.

Astute wariness regarded the surgeon before soft lips pulled back into a catty grin, flashing the edge of incisors that was reminiscent of the second speaker's moniker. Manicured fingertips then tucked back loose ginger strands, the gesture drawing attention to the dark outline of the inked pinwheel adorning a freckled shoulder. Her reply was emitted without hesitation, bordering on playful.

"Why all the _hearts_?"

It was by happenstance in the midst of a laundry day aboard the Sunny that the intricate markings were discovered on Law's body, a finding that might have led Nami's gaze to wander as it pleased for curiosity's sake.

Something in him clenched on instinct. Protection. Possession. Cora-san. It wasn't her business and thus, that suppressed childish instinct of his lashed out.

"It's more than that," he bit out with a note of gruffness in his voice, not appearing as apologetic as he was. Any thoughts regarding Corazon himself - his benefactor, his _everything_ \- was focused and emotional. He had severe clarity when it came to that man. It was tinted with red perhaps, but persistent just the same.

Nami simply chimed in with laughter from where she sat beside him. It neither helped nor amused the surgeon, who began to move away in order to end this useless exchange of words. Before he could do so, however, that same manicured hand curled over his shoulder in a grip that belied her stature.

Grey hues paused and then flicked back towards her, meeting a warm, albeit steely gaze. A look of understanding met him, though without the jadedness that harbored in his own heart. And why not? He couldn’t fathom the reason.

"Yes it is," was her retort and there was no mistaking the sympathetic lull of her words. Her hand squeezed around his bicep where one of the inked hearts were permanently etched onto his skin. Something in him throbbed again. A sudden wanting. His lips parted, wishing to speak. Stories of Cora lingered right at the edge of his tongue, but he would not be able to voice them aloud right now; still, the want was still there. Sharp and tart. Oddly enough, he was reminded of-

"Mementos last longer on the skin, hmm?"

The sentimental comment was enough to jar him from deep dwellings, but his attention was now divided. He spoke without completely thinking.

"It's not just on the skin." There was less bite to these words, perhaps succumbing to the languid pull of conversation she somehow drew him into.

"But the heart too."

He did look at her then, steel dipped hues narrowed with scrutiny but there was no joking glimmer in her knowing eyes. His jaw clenched, biting back that strange unfathomable emotion that surged in his chest again. It was fleeting, but he deduced it as harmless. Nonetheless, it kept him on his toes and something about it made him want to stay that way. Silence answered Nami’s quip a moment longer before the investigative gleam of his eyes were eventually replaced with that of exaggerated disinterest. Even so, calculative as he could be, there was no hiding the hint of curiosity to the whispery tones of his upcoming comment.

"Then, the trees on the upper deck..."

"Mhm, those too."

"...Hm."

The words remained tart on his tongue, something he found wanting. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was for onepiecerphub’s 2015 Secret Santa Exchange on Tumblr. For Ellie! My profuse apologies [again] for being so late on this. To those who helped me along while I finished this up, bless y'all. You know who you are.


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